Sauced for a Cause
As part of the holiday season, local LGBT watering hole Savoy has teamed up with The Center. Between now and Christmas, if you stop by and purchase a paper ornament at Savoy, 100% of the proceeds go to The Center. Each ornament purchased will display the giver’s name and will be used to fill the trees adorning the bar. Each Ornament is only $5. For more info visit TheCenterOrlando.org.
Meet Virginia
Howard Middle School in Orlando was one of 100 schools across the country to receive a local grant of $1,000 from Macy’s to assist with production costs, and will welcome the holiday season with a special performance of Yes, Virginia: The Musical on Thursday, Dec. 6-7 at 7 p.m. The performance is at the Performing Arts Center, 800 East Robinson St and tickets are $7 at the door. In celebration of the fifth anniversary of Macy’s holiday “Believe” campaign, the retailer is bringing the beloved Yes, Virginia animated special to life on school stages across the country! Yes, Virginia: The Musical is based on a true story and tells the heartwarming tale of 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, who wrote a letter to the New York Sun newspaper in 1897, inquiring about the existence of Santa Claus. “We are thrilled to provide Yes, Virginia: The Musical royalty free to schools across the country this holiday season,” said Bill Schermerhorn, Vice President/Creative Director for Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group. “In a time when funding is often cut for creative programs, Macy’s wanted to support art and music as another extension of our Believe campaign, created to inspire goodwill and generosity during the holiday season and beyond.” For more info, visit Macys.com/Believe.
WAVE-Winning Restaurant Expands
Bar|celona, a new concept from the owners of mi Tomatina, will add an additional 1,500 square feet and a new pincho and drink menu to its Winter Park restaurant. Co-owners Patricia Carvajal and Stuart Kirban recently announced the latest addition to their Hannibal Square restaurant – an intimate bar and patio that will adjoin their already successful and WAVE Award winning local Spanish eatery.
Bar|celona will feature miniature Spanish bar appetizers, and more than 100 local and imported spirits, wine and craft beers. Positioned directly behind the current space located at 433 W. New England Ave. in Winter Park, the new space is slated to open this month. “The pinchos concept at Bar|celona will offer an authentic experience, as pinchos have a strong socializing component in Spain. Furthermore, the expansion will allow our chef to be more inventive by working with local purveyors,” Kirban said in a statement. For more information visit Mitomatina.com.
Rave Reviews for Wanzie
Freeline Media’s Michael Freeman has gushed about what is said to be the “fourth and final” annual presentation of Wanzie’s Glittering Star-Studded A Christmas Carol. The concept: a producer comes up with a new version of Charles Dickens’ classic novella “A Christmas Carol” – casting it with well-known celebrities like Lucille Ball, Marlee Matlin and Carol Channing, those larger-than-life personalities who command a stage or screen in an all-too-familiar way. Disastrous? No. Hilarious? Definitely. Freeman agrees. “The sheer pleasure of [the show] is watching the so-called celebrities being unable to resist playing themselves more than Dickens’ characters – and the ingenious way Wanzie’s performers manage to crank up the comedy as successfully as the imitations,” he wrote. He goes on to say, “it was a funny idea to begin with, beautifully executed by comedians who know exactly what they’re doing, and do it so very well.” For tickets, visit Wanzie.com.
